I do some database stuff for the company I work for (just one of my many hats). I have no formal training on the program we use. We have a consultant that has spent some time with me showing me how to program stuff. I am merely an amateur. I know enough to be dangerous…apparently.
So I was adding a new form to the database and inadvertently messed up a previously made and much used form. I did not realize my mistake until the next day. When I realized it, I became alarmed because the form that it was messing with was one that we use for everything. This meant that until I got it fixed no one would be able to use the program. So frantically I worked on this all morning. Our consultant was out of town on vacation (on a beach in Florida) so I couldn’t very well call her. I called someone else in our company who knows about as much as I do, and together we thought we had it fixed…about 3 times. It never was.
Then I had a brilliant idea! Some months ago the office our company is in had a mold and sewer gas problem. So many of us worked from home for a few months. I was one of those people. So I remembered that I had a copy of this database on my home computer. Yippee!!
So I drove home in a mad rush, got to my computer, saw the pristine beautiful lovely perfect form and attempted to print it out. Then I remembered that my printer was broken. Has been for days. I have already tried restarting both computer and printer, taking out the cartridge, shaking, putting it back, uninstalling, reinstalling, etc. It keeps telling me that there is no black ink cartridge when, unless it is a hologram, I was looking right at the damn thing. I retried everything again short of uninstalling the printer again. I was in a hurry.
So went to my next option…creating a copy of the right form, calling it something else and replicating with the main database then fixing the form when I got back to work. Nope, not going to happen…I wasn’t able to replicate. It said the server was down. Damn.
So my next option…creating a word document with a page screenshot of the form then emailing it to myself. I created the document, but it wouldn’t send. Seems my DLS was down (the reason I could not replicate as well). Tried restarting everything there. No dice. Weird thing is, the plug that goes from the computer to the phone line was not only unplugged but the end that goes into the wall was sitting on my desk! I didn’t put it there. I am now officially freaking out. I can’t figure out why things aren’t working, things are not plugged in, etc. I am near hyperventilating because I’ve been working on this problem for about 6 hours now and everyone at the office is waiting for me. It’s after 2pm and I have not had lunch yet so I’m ultra crabby as well. So I called G. He suggested putting it on a disk (the voice of reason, partly why I called). So I do.
I grab the disk out of the burner; go tearing down the stairs and trip over the cat that is barfing up bird parts on the stairway.
I don’t have time to clean it so I just run past him and say, “Oh Lazlo, why now?� his response is to run into the living room and continue barfing on the 30 foot Persian rug. I shoo him outside and leave.
I fix the database problem but not before nearly getting hit on my way back to work. And no, I was not driving erratically. I was just going through an intersection where I had the stop sign, the oncoming traffic did not. I stopped, I looked, but because some yahoo parked his gargantuan truck in my line of view I could not see any oncoming traffic, so I slowly inched into the intersection and sure enough, someone was coming. Luckily it was an elderly lady who was not speeding. But we still almost met in the middle.
So my co-workers had a happy hour night planned for the evening. I wasn’t planning to go because I had been out the night before (oh yeah, did I mention this whole day was on a hangover? A very minor one, but still).
So my plan in the beginning of the day was not to go to happy hour, but after the way it was playing out I thought one little drink would be good for decompressing. I had to work til 5 though. So I’m sitting there working and I get a call from the first happy hour arrivee who tells me that the bar they planned the event at is closed. Closed closed, not just closed for the time being, to reopen later that night…CLOSED. For remodeling and has been for a month or so. So happy hour was canceled (don’t ask me why they didn’t just choose another spot).
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This post was written by Amy on March 31, 2005